As follow to my prior message - I checked out IRS fraud complaint site online and one of their recommendations was to go ahead and call back the number given and if they identify themselves as "IRS" ask the person for their name and badge number so you have that info to document with your report of suspicious call (see instruction at end of my comment). So I called the suspicious ph number (202-241-5713) and after a few attempts got gentle with foreign sounding accent who answered call saying something like "This is the IRS, how can I help you" (with call center noises in background)..I calmly said I'm calling because I received a strange call this morning and before we go on could please give me your name and badge number so I'm sure its the IRS I'm talking too....causing him to pause for a moment and then he said "AJ2909" as if he was making up as he went along so I repeated the code back to him and asked him skeptically was that his badge number or his name, he said badge # so I then asked him again for his name....he paused for a few seconds and apparently picked up that I was bemused with his responses and knew this was a scam and finally exclaimed you "F@!&ker" and hung up.
IRS guidance:
If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS but you suspect they are not an IRS employee: ...Record the employee's name, badge number, call back number and caller ID if available.
Call 1-800-366-4484 to determine if the caller is an IRS employee with a legitimate need to contact you.
If the person calling you is an IRS employee, call them back.
If not, report the incident to TIGTA and to us at
[email protected] (Subject: 'IRS Phone Scam'